The Fire Within
by Dreaming Wild
Summary: Imagine being blamed for the death of a family member. Imagine being tortured with guilt for something that was beyond your control. Just a typical day in Sammy's life as her sister Ice keeps her as her slave with the guilt. All until one day that all changes...
1. Chapter 1

_The steady patter of rain plopped against the thunderpath. A cool breeze whisked across the thunderpath splattering dark droplets into a silver kits face. "I bet you can't catch that rabbit over there." A white she-cat taunted to the little kit and pointed across the thunderpath at a small brown rabbit. The kit hissed then crouched down. She leaped! And she flew across the silent path. After hearing stories that warned all cats from trespassing of the thunderpath Sammy was a bit nervous but all she could think about was the rabbit. Nearing the other side the path began to rumble._

 _"Run!" A cat meowed, but Sammy was shaking with fear. A huge shaped appeared in front of Sammy rumbling the ground. Suddenly, Sammy was pushed into a puddle by the side of the thunderpath and heard a shriek. A limp shape lay where Sammy was seconds before. Sammy lay down next to it, the rabbit forgotten. The white she cat crossed the path and whimpered at the sight of the cat._

 _"Mama?" She asked nudging the she-cat. Tears streamed down Sammy's face and she turned and her sister was crying too._

 _"This is all your fault!" The white cat cried swatting at Sammy leaving deep marks in her face. Blood seaped from Sammy's wound and she just wiped it away and lay next to Maddy._

 _"I'm sorry Mama! Come back!" Sammy whimped. Rain continued to patter over them and the cool breeze chilled Sammy to the bone. "I'm sorry..."_

* * *

 _Sammy glazed hopefully_ into the dark and mysterious trees. She smelt the sweet scent of wet leaves and leaned over so she could be just a tiny bit closer to the magical woods. "Okay, I'm going to do it." Sammy thought preparing herself to leap. The ground suddenly look very far away and Sammy's paws began to shake.

"Sammy! Stop being so stupid! Come here right now and leave the woods alone!" A snow white she-cat hoped gracefully onto the fence, "The woods aren't for you, you're just a weak little kit!" The she-cat hissed the batted Sammy with her paw. Sammy wobbled on the rickety fence then flying through the air she landed flat on the ground. Pain shot up Sammy's legs as she struggled to stand. "I told you it was stupid." The white cat meowed padding away with her tail high. Sammy pushed against the ground and stood up. Tall grass tickled her underbelly as Sammy padded reluctantly behind the white she-cat.

The strong smell of rotting meat attacked Sammy as soon as she walked into a dark twoleg den. "Yuck!" Sammy hissed looking at a discarded mouse laying on the ground.

"Well it's your fault that Maddy isn't here, or else this place wouldn't be full of your stink!" The white she-cat meowed daintily stepping over a pile of crowfood. At the mention of her mother's name Sammy's eyes began to water.

"I'm sorry," Sammy sniffled and quickly picked up some of the crowfood, even if it was her sisters. Sammy gagged as the smell entered her mouth. Sighing, she dug a hole outside the den and placed the pile in it. Suddenly, rain started pattering on Sammy's silver fur turning it almost black. Then the tears began. Sammy couldn't hold them back anymore, she hated how it was her fault the Maddy was crushed by a monster. She hated her sister for reminding her of it. "Mama, I wish you were still here..." Sammy whimpered shivering in the falling rain. After calming down she returned to her sister. Padding the the den, Sammy noticed that Ice was fast asleep. She let out a sigh of relief, she didn't want her sister to lecture her and force her to eat the 'food' that was soon to be rotten.

Slowly, so not to wake up Ice, Sammy seeped into her nest. Warmth soon encased her as she settled into a deep sleep. Her dreams were horrible that night with the picture of her mothers limp body painted onto her eyelids. She awoke to a dark figure sitting over her...


	2. Chapter 2

Sammy's eyes barley had closed when the dark figure twitched its tail. Panic rose in Sammy's chest as she strained to make out the figure that was now sniffing her sisters pelt. "He-he-ey yo-ou!" She stammered standing up and fluffing out her pelt. "You stay away from my sister!" She hissed regaining her voice. The dark shape just purred.

"Me, hurt a kittypet!" The dark shape padded towards her, Sammy dug her claws into the ground and hissed lightly. "No I won't hurt a defenseless kit either." The cat meowed. Suddenly, Sammy got a glance of the figure, he was a big golden tabby tom with scratches up and down his pelt. He had a niche in his ear but his eyes were warm. Sammy tensed up when he sat down in front of her. "I saw you from the woods around sunset." The big cat meowed. Shivers of excitement curled down Sammy's pelt at the mention of the magical woods.

"Are you from there?" Sammy asked picturing the noble cats she had heard about as a kit. She saw them fighting battles and catching prey. The cat nervously averted his eyes, he began shifting his paws.

Then the cat stared into her eyes, after a moment he meowed, "Yea, I'm from the woods." He continued, "I was sent by them on a... mission, yea a mission, to save the... cat, no wait link with our ancestors." Sammy looked at him in awe. "Really?" She asked picturing a wonderful mission with fighting and running, oh how she wished she could leave this rotten den. Suddenly, a shriek filled the rotting walls.

"Hey! What are you doing in my den! Leave me or I'll fight ya!" Ice hissed leaping from her nest, pieces of moss flying everywhere. The tom merely stood up and growled.

"I've seen how you treat this kit, she deserves better than you. If I were you I would shut your mouth." The cat meowed. Sammy allowed herself a second of relief when she realized she did. She deserved the worst treatment because it was her fault.

Sadly Sammy padded over next to Ice and sat behind her then mumbled, "I deserve this, it is none of your business so I would suggest leaving."

The cat gave her a puzzled look, "Well, if you decided you don't, there is a place for you in the woods as an apprentice." The tom stood up and padded out into the pouring rain.


	3. Chapter 3

Sammy sat still watching the tom pad away. "You furrball! Foxdung! Mousebrain!" Ice cursed angrily her white fur puffing up. Sammy simply went over to Ice's nest and fixed it, adding more moss around the edges. Ice continued to hiss and rant on and on and on about how mousebrained it was of her to not wake her. Sammy simple nodded whenever she heard her name then lay down into her nest and finally fell asleep. Her dreams were dark and she kept seeing glimmers of her mother and the mysterious tom.

Her mother padded up to her, "Sammy, you need to go." Maddy kept saying. "I can't Mama, its my fault that your not with us! I deserve nothing!" Sammy yowled as loud as she could. Maddy simply stared at her then whispered fading away, "It was my choice."

Sammy woke up in a pool of sweat, regardless of the cool fog settling over the chill land. Sammy glanced over at Ice, her sister was laying in a tense position a snarl still on her lips. Sammy thought back to the night before, "It was probably a dream." She thought. "No cat would ever want me anywhere," Sammy sighed padding out side. Nervously, she padded to the quiet thunderpath to search for breakfast. She turned her head and strained her eyes for any limp figures on the path. "Bingo!" She meowed happily to herself finding a squirrel. She felt a rumble and whimpered a bit then shot off the thunderpath, leaving the squirrel. Rushing through the tall grass she tried to get the picture of her mother's body on the path. Sammy ran into the abandoned twoleg den then sighed when she saw Ice was still asleep. Sammy fixed her nest and tried to go to sleep.

At around sun-high Ice finally stretched her back and yawned. "Why didn't you get food from the path yet? Now were going to go hungry." Ice complained. Since when their mother died Ice was only 12 moons old neither of them knew how to hunt. Maddy was going to teach them when Sammy was old enough, but that never happened.

"Well I'd rather go hungry than eat that stinking crowfood!" Sammy suddenly hissed feeling angry for her sister complaining when she was the one who slept till sun-high.

"Well we wouldn't be eating crowfood if you hadn't killed Maddy!" Ice hissed triumphantly thinking she had one, for up until this moment Sammy couldn't deny it.

"She chose to save me! She could have just let me get hit by that monster, but now I"m left with an even worse one!" Sammy hissed then dismissed herself from the twoleg den. Sammy hopped onto the fence and glanced behind her for a second to look back at her only home. Then Sammy went into the woods...


	4. Chapter 4

Ferns flashed by Sammy's vision as she raced through the woods. Suddenly she felt piercing pain on her front paw. She gazed at a brown mound stuck in her paw and tried to continue running. When she placed her paw on the ground spots flickered in her vision. She then continued to limp through the woods, trying to get as far away from her horrible sister as she could. It was very hot so soon Sammy felt the present of thirst in her throat. Sammy growled then looked around for any old puddles from the rain yesterday. Before Sammy could find anything a heavy object was on her back. "Oof!" Sammy hissed as the air was knocked out of her.

"Stay where you are!" The object meowed digging its claws into Sammy's back.

"Bumblepaw, stop it! It's only a kit." A voice meowed from the brush. A grey and white tom stepped out into the clearing.

"Sorry Mousewhisker," Bumblepaw meowed stepping off of Sammy. Immediately, Sammy stood up. "I am not a kit!" She hissed bearing her teeth.

Bumblepaw purred, "And that makes me a fish!"

Mousewhisker gave his apprentice a stern look. "Why don't you go home little kit, before we have to chase you off."

"I have no home, I want to live in the forest!" Sammy meowed mater of factually. Mousewhisker thought for a second twitching his tail while Bumblepaw sat there looking very annoyed.

"Kit, why don't you come with us to Thunderclan and we'll see what Firestar has to say about this." Mousewhisker meowed beckoning her to follow him into the brush. Sammy followed Bumblepaw and Mousewhisker as they raced through the woods. She felt soft earth under her paws as they approached a tunnel of thorns. "Don't just stand there come on!" Mousewhisker meowed walking through Sammmy followed him and gazed in wonder at a huge clearing full of cats. "Welcome to Thunderclan!"


	5. Chapter 5

As soon as Sammy stepped in the clearing, she felt a sense of relief. She could start leave her horrible sadness behind her! Sammy saw kits running and playing together with some moss. She saw elders grooming each other. She saw a young cat bring a sparrow to a mother. "Well what do you think?" Bumble paw asked laughing when Sammy was to awestruck to respond. A huge flame colored cat stepped towards Sammy.

"Hello young one, I am Firestar. And you are?" The flame colored tom asked. A group of cats gathered around Sammy and Forester as she was introduced to the clan.

The huge tom that Sammy saw at her old home glanced at her for a second from across the clearing then yowled, "Forester, uh.. this is a kit that uh..." He ran over and tripped into the dust. He stood up with a goofy grin, "Well when I was hunting I saw her on a fence and..."

"Alright Lionblaze, thats enough." Firestar chuckled, "In more important business, is she going to be allowed to be a part of thunderclan?" Firestar leaped onto the highledge. "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey, join me under the highledge for a clan meeting!" His mighty yowl filled every corner of the clearing luring cats out of their dens into the sunshine. "As a few of you know, we found this young kit on our territory this morning by Mousewhisker's patrol." Everyone glanced over to the tom who was puffing out his chest in pride. "She has no place to go and is around six moons. With us only having three apprentices I think we could use another!" He yowled.

Protests filled the clearing, especially from a old dark tabby. "She's just a little kittypet! We don't need any apprentices so I say we tell her to go back where she belongs!" The tabby meowed.

"Mousefur, be reasonable, she's just a kit." A ginger she cat meowed she had bright green eyes and was almost a exact replica of Firestar except she had a white paw and was a bit lighter.

"Figure's the half-kittypet would say something like that." A cat meowed from the crowed. Pelts prickled up and suddenly a yowl shook the clearing.

"Firestar shouldn't have to deal with this!" A dark tabby tom meowed. He was huge! His broad shoulders made him look out of place balancing on a tiny rock below Firestar. "Being a kittypet isn't the only reason we shouldn't take her in! But if thats the only thing you can think of you might want to reconsider according to Firestar's heritage!" Murmurs filled the clearing.

"I guess we are all in agreement then." Firestar meowed, "This kit will train as a Thunderclan apprentice!" A few cats growl in disgust but no one disagrees openly. "We will have a apprentice ceremony at sunset, meeting dismissed." Firestar leaps off the highrock and the cats slowly go to where they were before.

"I don't know whats going on!" Sammy sighed to Bumblepaw who padded up to her.


End file.
